CDC: Many deaths from common causes could be prevented

Each year, nearly 900,000 Americans die prematurely from the five leading causes of death, but 20% to 40% of the deaths from each cause could be prevented, according to a CDC study.

The five leading causes of death in the U.S. are heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, stroke and unintentional injuries. Together they accounted for 63% of all U.S. deaths in 2010, with rates for each cause varying significantly from state to state.

The report, published in the May 2 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, analyzed premature deaths (before age 80) from each cause for each state from 2008 to 2010. The authors then calculated the number of deaths from each cause that would have been prevented if all states had same death rate as the states with the lowest rates.

The study suggests that, if all states had the lowest death rate observed for each cause, it would be possible to prevent:

Many of these risks are avoidable by making changes in personal behaviors, according to a CDC news release. Others are due to disparities relating to the social, demographic, environmental, economic and geographic attributes of the neighborhoods in which people live and work.

”We think that this report can help states set goals for preventing premature death from the conditions that account for the majority of deaths in the United States,” Harold W. Jaffe, MD, the study’s senior author and CDC’s associate director for science, said in the news release. “Achieving these goals could prolong the lives of tens of thousands of Americans.”

Southeastern states had the highest number of preventable deaths for each of the five causes. The study authors suggest that states with higher rates can look to states with similar populations, but better outcomes, to see what they are doing differently to address leading causes of death.